1. Field of the Disclosure
The present device relates generally to wireless communication protocols, and in particular to device synchronization operation of such protocols.
2. Background
Wireless connection of devices to computers, and wireless networking of groups of computers is one of fastest growing segments of the electronics industry. Current and emerging technologies in this field include IEEE 802.11 (versions a, b and g) also known as ‘WiFi’ available at http://standards.ieee.org/catalog/olis/lanman.html, ‘Bluetooth’ available at https://www.bluetooth.org/ and Cypress Semiconductor's proprietary WirelessUSB standard available at http://www.wirelessusb.org
In conventional wireless communication, for two or more devices to communicate, they must first establish a link. The conventional Receiver Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) technique is commonly used to establish communication between two wireless devices. This technique involves a master device sending a signal to activate a slave device, and a slave waiting for such an activation signal.
Before receiving, the slave is typically in a power-down or sleep mode, and monitors the level of energy on a particular frequency band and performs a magnitude comparison on it. If the magnitude rises above a certain threshold, the slave interprets it as a command to activate itself. The conventional RSSI technique has some disadvantages, as it is prone to false activation, which may cause unnecessary power-up operations and drain battery power over time, resulting in reduced battery life.
It would be desirable to have a technique for establishing communication in a wireless system and powering on a receiving device that is more accurate and less prone to false activation.